TomTom ONE Portable GPS Vehicle Navigator
by TomTom
|
Our Price: $409.44 Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Buy Used: from $35.00 (click here) Category: GPS or Navigation System See more product details |
|---|
Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of TomTom ONE Portable GPS Vehicle Navigator
Customer Review: Do Not Buy This Unit
Summary: 1 Stars
BE WARNED - Many of the folks reviewing this GPS are giving it high ratings but are listing many faults. Others are probably first timers and have never seen what a real GPS can do. READ THE REVIEWS - Don't trust the stars on this one.
This GPS spent more time getting me lost than taking me to my destination. I used it for a 1 month period and was thoroughly dissapointed. I returned it and got a Garmin NUVI 350.
Want some examples?
1) My home was built in 1920. The town is just as old. It could not find it! It took me to the town and sent me everywhere but my house. I decided to follow it and it send just looped me around for over a mile and never reached any destination.
2) I was traveling to a party with my wife and luckily she had her GPS (Magellan 800). I put them both on in the car because the TOM TOM went nuts. I had less than a 1/4 tank of gas and it was sending me 20 miles out of my way to get to someplace the Magellan told me was only 7. Guess which one I followed.
3) I used the "locate" option which allows you to lock down the location of a place you would like to return to when you do not know the address (for example a restaurant or a store). When I got home I told my wife about this great restaurant I found and we got dressed to go, but when I chosed this saved location on Mr. TOM TOM, it kept saying "No Route Possible" and would not even begin to get me in the area. I tried it with all my other saved locations and same story.
Some other bad features:
1) Battery life is pathetic.
2) The unit only comes with a car AC adapter, which has a USB pin that is very easy to bend and brake (believe me I found out).
3) You will NEVER and I mean NEVER get the quickest route to a destination (I found this out using it with 2 different GPS systems which gave me quicker routes). Isn't part of the point of a GPS to save gas?
4) The unit does not signal you when you need to turn. When you get close to your turn, all you hear is "turn ahead in 300 yards" then the system starts to count down with no audio so you have to look at the screen while driving. The system never announces the street name or offers a bell or signal to indicate this is the corner you turn on. I had to do so many u-turns I lost count. If you miss your turn, rerouting is not a given. A few times it just kept on letting me get lost and never even rerouted me so I thought I was OK. On another occassion it almost let me down a one way street. I almost feel as if the Tom Tom was not built for the US because it does not seem to recognize streets that have been around for decades.
******** update ********
Outside of the GPS systems I own, I do alot of business travel which requires me to rent cars that often have GPS systems installed. In all honesty, the best GPS I have used is the Garmin series. They are extremely customizable and durable. I have used multiple Magellans and they are durable, but when they break, they really break because the case is so hard it leaves no room for flexibility of shock. Their customer service was a little better than Garmins, but they are overpriced and to be fair I only had to call Garmin customer service once, while I had to call Magellan several times to get my issue resolved. I tried a newer Tom Tom again about a year after this review (my daughter got it as a gift from her boyfriend), it was no improvement. It was really frustrating to customize and she called me on 2 different occassions because she was lost. It was returned. I did some research and discovered my earlier feeling on the Tom Tom not being made for the US to be accurate. They use another mapping system that is more popular overseas. Spend a few bucks more and get a Garmin.
Customer Review: Great GPS unit with minor shortcomings
Summary: 4 Stars
overall, this is a fantastic GPS unit for the money. It is relatively small, and can be carried in your pocket or purse without much of a problem. There is no external antenna to have to flip out to get better reception. The single most important thing in a GPS unit is its ability to quickly detect a signal and get to places that you need to go. In this regard, this unit is superb. The acquisition time to get a GPS signal is approximately under 30 seconds. This has one of the new SIRF III chip sets, which is very important for getting a good signal. The unit quickly calculates directions, quickly recalculates when needed to. It does not have text-to-speech, so does not announce the street names that you are supposed to turn on, and does not display the name of the street that you are on when it is navigating. so one does have to look at the screen sometimes when navigating, you cannot completely rely on the audio.
In terms of the look of the screen, it is well laid out. However, it is a bit spartan with regards to its labeling of the map. As I said, it does not show you the street that you are on when it is navigating, it only shows you the street that you are supposed to turn onto. This does require a little bit of a leap of faith when you are driving in an unfamiliar place, that you are on the right street. It does give you a warning in terms of multiple warnings prior to turning.
Using the GPS is quite simple. The touch screen is laid out relatively easily for anyone to use. one minor shortcomings: you can't easily mute the unit, or turn down the volume or turn up the volume quickly.
I think the major problem with this unit has been stated in several other reviews: a suction cup problem. the suction cup does give way, and sometimes the unit fell while I was driving. I know that this unit is not very expensive, but this is a big issue, and I think that the company could have done a better job of including a better suction cup, like the ones that you find in the Garmin units. there is a better suction cup available out there, but it is a bit hard to find on the web; it is selling on eBay, but the ones I saw had to ship from London.
In terms of the Bluetooth feature, I don't really find this particularly helpful. It would require I believe a subscription to TomTom weather or traffic services.
Lastly, unlike the Garmin units, and several other brands of units, the TomTom has nowhere near as many as points of interest. If you are using this unit when you're shopping, to try to find stores, it's just not possible. There aren't enough points of interest. So please keep this in mind, as this is a major advantage of the Garmin units. I used to use a Garmin i5, and it clearly had many many more points of interest.
In the end, I did find a better value for the money out there, with the Nextar c3 ( also sold on Amazon.com). For less money, the Nextar came with a far superior suction cup, a remote control ( though I do not envision using this), similar number of points of interest, a carrying case ( soft), and about a 30 to 60 seconds increased acquisition time a satellite signal over the TomTom one (i.e. the nextar took slightly longer to find a satellite signal, but once I found it locked on pretty well. This 30 to 60 second increase was not a huge deal for me) vs. the TomTom.
however, if you buy the TomTom one, you won't have too many regrets. There are many good GPS units out there nowadays, and the TomTom, despite its minor shortcomings, is still a great GPS unit.
FYI The other major competitor to TomTom is the Garmin Nuvi 350.
Customer Review: Right on the money.
Summary: 4 Stars
I'm a closing/settlement agent in the D.C. Metro area and I grew very tired of printing out Google Maps, toting them along with me, and then getting lost when I took a wrong turn. It was embarrassing to have to call a client for directions and even more embarrassing to show up late. With the TomTom, I plug in all my closings for the day ahead of time and scurry from one to the other very efficiently.
The small, compact size was the primary selling factor for me. I considered the Garmin nuvi, but I didn't really need mp3 compatability, photo features, music payback or text to speech features. I just needed something to tell me how to get where I'm going and reroute me if I have to change course. The TomTom One does all of that and more for a great price.
The unit comes with a USB cable to charge and interact with your computer at home, and a car charger for use on the road. It does have its own battery, and I've been able to get ~4 hours of life without it being on the charger. There is a windshield dash mount that is quite nice. You almost don't realize it's an accessory - it blends right in with the rest of the dash. I just quickly remove mine when I'm not in the car to avoid it getting stolen. It's small enough to fit right in my pocket as I go from closing to closing.
The display always shows you the name of the next turn/exit and how far away it is (you get a two-mile advance voice warning on long stretches), so the voice saying "exit right in 2,000 yards" versus "exit onto I-495 West in 2,000 yards" doesn't bother me as it seems to bother other users. I'm always peeking at the display to prepare for the next trun, so the lack of "text to speech" isn't a big deal for me. It's very intuitive and very easy to use.
You will get into an accident if you try to program this thing for a route while it is attached to the dash. I almost did several times until I had the sense to pull over and program the routes off the road. Simple changes are easy, but the touch screen does require a bit of pressure with your finger to get the keys to activate. There is a night mode that helps reduce the glare and relfection of the screen on the windshield. I recommend using it, as teh glare can be quite distracting.
I only have a few complaints. First, there is no bound paper owner's manual. Don't get me wrong, I had the unit up and running in less than five minutes, but I had to install the software CD and use the electronic manual to figure out some advanced features. Secondly, the TomTom Home software has not worked well for me at all on my Macintosh. I can seem to plan routes or do much of anything useful with it.
TomTom likes to tout the TomTom Plus (pay) features (weather, traffic and other updates via your cell phone and Bluetooth), but very few phones and carriers feature this functionality. Verizon and my Treo 650, for example, are not supported. Supposedly with TomTom Plus Traffic, the unit will alert you to any congestion, construction or accidents and work to re-route you. That would have been handy for me, but my phone doesn't support it and it's a bit pricy for the service.
For less than $300, I can't imagine a better-featured GPS. I have the built-in Honda navigation system in our second car, and the TomTom even beats it in some areas of functionality. I haven't experienced any of the inaccuracies that other have complained of as far as maps go and TomTom seems to be pretty good about software updates and the like.
If you need a basic, compact and easy-to-use car GPS, teh TomTom One will not disappoint.
Customer Review: Great little device but needs a few fixes...
Summary: 4 Stars
This is my first GPS (not counting the Delorme Earthmate which is too antique to compare). So I'm impressed! There's a lot to like here given that I wanted a basic "no frills" device.
The One boots up and fixes within 1-3 minutes probably depending on how much open sky it can see. The unit recalculates routes in seconds and I've only run into the dreaded "turn around when you can" advice once. The SirfStar III chipset is a big improvement over what I read about older devices. I love the suction-cup holder--it's amazingly steady and hasn't come off accidentally yet (helps if you wet it a little). The voice and speaker quality are very good although I don't see much impact of the "link volume to car speed" function. The navigation is accurate but you do have to be careful--the One has already tried to lead me into a restricted area of the Pentagon! It also calculated a route that took me off a highway and immediately back on just to take advantage of 1.5 miles of unrestricted HOV. As with any advice based on old data, things can change--so be careful. Another caveat is that the Tom Tom One is a popular item for theft--hide it well or take it with you. And don't leave the suction-cup holder showing--the bad guys will break in to see if you left your One in the car.
I also really like the fact that the device contents are on an SD card which makes backups easy and straightforward. And the connector is a 5-pin USB so I only need one cable for it, my camera and my PDA. And I love the fact it's running Linux--that gives me all sorts of ideas.
The maps are a little wanting--I've got about 20 Favorites built up and it failed to find house numbers for some buildings built in the past 2 years. In fact, one restaurant it didn't find as an address it did find as a pre-installed POI (point of interest). So I have no idea until I drive there whether the POI it knew about, but couldn't find as an address, might be an old location for that restaurant! Which points up another perplexing oddity--you can't view the address details of saved routes--you can only rename them or delete them. They need to fix this.
One disappointment is that the emulator is not working for me. That's the part in the PC or Mac (PC in my case) client that gives you a direct interface to the device. Tom Tom has been working with me on this and the Help Desk has been very good and answers within a minute or two, but it is a disappointment. Tom Tom says it's almost certainly something in the client that's not supporting that function and are promising I'll see an update to the PC client that fixes it. I think I believe them (well, the first half of the statement anyway) given that the PC client appears to be a quick kludge of the older client for the more expensive models with the unsupported functions (MP3 player and image viewer) dimmed out when the client determines the device is a One. I hope they fix this soon. Most tasks can be completed on the device itself (at greater inconvenience) but one or two can only be done through the emulator. Until they fix this it'll be tough to deploy this to entities like sales forces that need to quickly enter the day's routes and itineraries before getting on the road.
Another odditiy is that the client keeps wanting to download and install the prior (beta) version of the device Operating System. Oh well, rushing tech to market means they get to use us as beta testers. I guess I'm getting used to that.
All in all only one star lost for the problems with the PC client. Now someone needs to start a U.S. Wiki!
Customer Review: Good basic GPS at relatively low cost
Summary: 4 Stars
I bought the TomTom One because I wanted a high level of portability with a legible 3-1/2" screen and also wanted the option of buying maps of Western Europe. The unit is small enough (thin enough) to fit into a jacket pocket, unlike the most feature-laden and more expensive TomTom 510 and 910 models. I considered getting TomTom's Navigator 6, which connects to a Bluetooth phone like my Treo 650, but the screen on the One is about 60% bigger than the Treo's, and unlike the Navigator 6, the One it doesn't require me to set up a Bluetooth connection to use it.
Be sure to use a drop of water on the suction cup mount that hold the unit on your windshield; otherwise it will fall off.
You have to be willing to accept that the maps are never 100% up to date, and knowledge of the locality beats any GPS system. The first day I used it, it told me to go to Boston Logan Airport by the shortest route, but it's not the fastest. Just the same, it gets you where you need to go when you don't have local knowledge, and that's what you buy GPS for in the first place.
It's missing a case and a 120-volt adapter, although you can buy both as accessories. I bought an inexpensive generic case for a digital camera to hold both the One and its 12-volt power cord. It also lacks text-to-speech capability, so instead of telling you, "Turn right onto Beacono Street" or "Bear left onto Interstate 95", it says, "Turn right at the next intersection," or "Bear left onto the motorway." That last phrase shows its Britsh heritage -- even with one of the US voices selected, it tell you to go "straight on" rather than "straight." Personally, I don't think the lack of spoken streets names is a problem, and the name of the street our highway number is displayed clearly in the screen, but it's a matter of personal preference and about a hundred dollars.
Out of the box, took 2 minutes to get it working. To get the full list of features, you should change the preferences to see all the options, and then you can do things like: Change the ABCD keyboard to a QWERTY keyboard; decide whether to display a compass on the screen; change the screen colors; and a lot more. The options seem quite complete to me -- you can customize the display extensively; plan a route in advance and look at it turn-by-turn before you start; and save places you drive to often as "Favorites." For example, I go to Los Angeles frequently I can select Los Angeles Airport as a destination from a short list of Favorites rather than having to enter it each time I'm headed there. You can tell it to avoid freeways, which can be useful in a place like LA. If youre in a traffic jam you can tell it to find way around the jam via local streets. That's proven to be a very helpful and effective feature.
I'd guess that most GPS units have a similar list of features, but the TomTom One is small enough to dump into a briefcase, large enough to be legible, easy to use. and complete enough to get you where you want to go. It gets four stars rather than 5 because there's no case or AC power adapter, but it's a five-star performer.